Healing through Art
Art is a wound turned into light
-George Braques, French painter and sculptor
Explore the healing power of art in the submissions below. If you would like to share an original or favorite work of art, please submit to Healing Hamlet.
Where the Wild Things Are
Maurice Sendak Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) discovered books and began drawing during his childhood when he was forced to stay indoors due to poor health. He once shared, “A little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters – sometimes very hastily – …
Crocheted Playground
Toshiko Horiuchi-MacAdam As an artist I had been exhibiting my work in museums and galleries. At the same time, I was searching: what do I value in life? Who am I? Why do I create these works? Why do I pour so much energy into my work? Throughout this time I created a few works of …
Touch and Go
Ray Yoshida A descendant of Japanese immigrants, Ray Yoshida (1930-2009 ) was born on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. His studies at the University of Hawaii were cut short when he was drafted into the army during the Korean war and stationed in Japan. After he was discharged, he moved to Chicago where he received …
Mirror Dancer
Milton Avery Raised in Connecticut, Milton Avery (1885-1965) took his first factory job at the age of 16. While earning a living in manual labor, he pursued an art education at the Connecticut League of Art Students. When the family patriarch died in 1915, Avery was responsible for supporting 9 other family members. Two years later, …
Red Horse
Martiros Saryan Martiros Saryan (1880-1972) was born in Russia to Armenian parents. In 1915 he went to Armenia to to help returning Armenians who were fleeing genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. “I do not know when the artist was born in me,” he explained. “It was probably in those days when I used …
Mind Boggling
Georgia Blizzard Born in 1919 of Irish and Apache heritage, Georgia Blizzard began making pottery as a child with clay found in local Appalachian streams and hillsides. She is a self-taught artist and all her pieces are formed by hand. Of her artwork and its creative process, she stated, “I can get rid of taunting, …
In the Realms of the Unreal
Henry Darger Henry Darger (1892-1973) was born in Chicago and placed in a home for boys after his mother died and his father became too ill to care for him. As a young teenager, Darger was diagnosed with behavioral issues and institutionalized in the Lincoln Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children. He was forced to perform labor until he escaped a …
Red Cow in the Yellow Sky
Marc Chagall Born in the Russian city of Vitebsk in the late 19th century, Marc Chagall and his family endured the severe restrictions imposed upon Jews. Despite the odds against him, he left Vitebsk to pursue art school in St. Petersburg. Regarding the city of his youth, Chagall said, “I didn’t have one single painting that didn’t breathe with your …
Dancers of the Sun
Collin Sekajugo Born in Uganda, Collin Sekajugo established The Ivuka Arts Center in Kigali, Rwanda. “Ivuka” means “rebirth”, a fitting name for the first art center in a country that is still healing from the genocide of nearly twenty years ago. The artists of Ivuka, many who have returned with families that were forced to flee …
Fantasy
Robert Beauchamp Robert Beauchamp (1923 – 1995), along with his six siblings, was orphaned at the age of three and raised during the depression in communal housing in Denver, Colorado. After receiving encouragement from his high school art teacher, Beauchamp immersed himself in art books from the public library and spent countless hours at the …